Iola High’s girls put forth a defensive effort Tuesday sufficient enough to beat most of the teams on its schedule.
Problem was, so did Prairie View.
The Buffalos withstood Iola’s charge down the stretch, denying the Mustangs a chance at perhaps their most impressive win of the season.
Iola was within a point, and Mustang junior Reese Curry came agonizingly close to draining a baseline jumper that would have given Iola the lead with a minute left.
But the ball rattled in and out, and was corralled by Prairie View.
Iola kept up its defensive pressure, forcing Prairie View to call timeout with under 30 seconds left.
But a miscommunication on the inbound play at midcourt allowed the Buffalos’ Kally Stroup an open lane to the hoop and a layup that pushed Prairie View’s lead to 28-25.
Iola came up empty on its last two field goal attempts as the Buffalos tacked on a pair of free throws to win, 30-25.
“We had a couple of shots, really good shots,” Iola head coach Kelsey Johnson said. “And we had the girls we wanted in the right positions to take those shots. It’s just a matter of getting them to fall in high-pressure situations.”
The loss drops Iola to 5-11, but leaves Johnson convinced her squad is ready to make some noise as the season hits the home stretch.
“Our goals are still attainable,” she said. “None of these (remaining) games are unattainable. We just have to work for it.”
If Iola can continue to play defense like it did against the 11-4 Buffalos, those goals may be closer to realization than ever.
Just four days after a disappointing 16-point loss at Chanute, Johnson admitted she was worried how her team would respond against Prairie View’s aggressive, physical defense.
“Honestly, we recovered better than I expected us to,” she said “Our practices this week hadn’t been great.”
Iola relied heavily on its zone defense, which flummoxed Prairie View throughout most of the first half.
